Keyword Density in Metatags

Q:  Could you tell me how the right percentage of keywords in my meta tags?
Reece

A:  Hi Reece!  Great question!  Actually, there are three primary of metatags to consider. A metatag is a special HTML tag that provides information about a web page but have no affect on how the page is displayed. Instead, they are present in the source (web design code) and help search engines decide how to index a site.

1.  Title Tags: Your title tag is a simple piece of HTML code that's located in the "head" of your web page and is only seen by search engine spiders — not in the body of your page. Your title tag is important because:

• Most search engines look at your title tag FIRST when they're spidering your website.
• Your title tag usually determines what will appear as the title of your website in the search engine results.

This means that your title tag is a great way to appeal to both search engines AND your potential visitors!

The most effective title tags contain description simple — just a sentence or two, limited to 250 characters including spaces and punctuation. Anything longer and the search engines will likely cut the end off. While it's important to use your main keywords in your title tag, you definitely DON'T want to "stuff" your title tags full of a meaningless jumble of keywords.  Do include a descriptive, accurate title that describes your business clearly, letting potential visitors know EXACTLY what they can expect to find on your site
 
It's important to focus on one main keyword phrase like this in your title tag — or two keyword phrases at a maximum.  And, your most important keyword phrase should come first, which can make a difference.

Google allows only 70 characters in title tags and will cut off the text after the last whole word, so your best bet is to optimize for 70 characters because of Google's importance in the world of search.

2.  Description tags: A description meta tag describes the purpose of your web page and ideally sits just below the opening title (<title>) tag in the source code of your website.

The text you include in your description tag usually appears as the blurb that's included in your listing in the search results. This blurb gives searchers an idea of what your site is about before clicking through to it.

Just be sure to keep your description simple — just a sentence or two, limited to 250 characters including spaces and punctuation. Anything longer and the search engines will likely cut the end off.  Your keyword should appear no more than 3 times in your description meta tags.

3.  Keyword meta tags:  At one time, the keyword meta tag was essential for letting the search engine spiders know the keywords a web page was optimized for.  However, these days, the keyword meta tag tends to be ignored by search engine spiders, mostly because they became overused by people trying to "keyword-stuff" their way to the top of the search results.  Here are some simple steps to follow in creating your keyword metatags:

• List the 2 – 3 keywords you're optimizing the page for in order of importance, with your main keywords appearing first.
• Separate keywords with a comma or space or the | (pipe, on the same key as )
• Don't overdo it. If search engines think you are keyword stuffing, you run the risk of being penalized.

Bonus tip:  For more help in creating and implementing these
strategies, names of the resources and tools I use to implement these
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